5 Blogs Before Lunch

Virgin America: A Breath of Fresh Airline

L'Oréal ads banned for overly airbrushing Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington

The cosmetics company L'Oréal has been forced to pull ad campaigns in the UK featuring Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington, after complaints that the images were overly airbrushed.

The official British watchdog group, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that both ads breached the advertising standards code for exaggeration and being misleading and banned them from future publication.

The banning of the ads upholds the idea that ads should accurately depict product claims. If L'Oréal claims that these celebrities look like this due to their makeup, but simulated their beauty with photo-retouching, the ASA claims an exaggerated claim, and one that is not representative of the results the product could achieve.The UK Guardian reports that

L'Oréal UK admitted that Turlington's image had been "digitally retouched to lighten the skin, clean up makeup, reduce dark shadows and shading around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows". However, it claimed there were still signs of ageing, such as crow's feet, and that the image "accurately illustrated" the achievable results.

In addition to the official claims of "exaggeration," women's advocates see highly retouched advertising photos affecting women's self-perception and creating a false sense of real beauty.

"Pictures of flawless skin and super-slim bodies are all around, but they don't reflect reality," Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson is quoted in the Guardian. "Excessive airbrushing and digital manipulation techniques have become the norm, but both Christy Turlington and Julia Roberts are naturally beautiful women who don't need retouching to look great. This ban sends a powerful message to advertisers – let's get back to reality."

McDonald's fails to appease with its new, healthier Happy Meal

McDonald's has been under fire for its lack of healthy choices for kids--in particular its Happy Meal.

So, they have come up with a meal to appease the critics--they're cutting the french fry portion in half, and adding a quarter-cup of apple slices (without caramel dipping sauce) to every Happy Meal.

The new meals will be rolled-our slowly, starting in September.

Unfortunately, the Happy Meal appeasment is not enough to make the San Francisco Board of Supervisors happy enough <pun> to allow McDonald's to include Happy Meal toys on their children's menu.

You see, San Francisco passed a law last year banning free toys in meals that fall short of certain nutritional standards — including a serving each of fruits and vegetables. The new Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal will have 435 calories and 17 grams of fat, compared to the original 530 calories and 23 grams of fat of the previous version, but that just isn't enough for the SF Supes.

The Bay Citizen reports that a quarter-cup of apple slices, or half a serving of fruit, is only half the amount called for by the law. And the new 1.1-ounce serving of French fries falls below the three-fourths cup of veggies required (yes, fries are considered a vegetable by the U.S. Department of Agriculture).

McDonald's USA President Jan Fields says that the toys are the meal's "...most fun part... That's what makes it happy." Fields went on to say that adding vegetables to Happy Meals would “probably exceed what a child would be willing to eat.”

With an attitude like that no wonder they can't find a solution to make children, parents, and health food and child obesity advocates happy.

Shouldn't it be the food that makes them happy?

Fabio vs Isaiah in an Old Spice Mano a Mano in El Baño duel

In television-land, there has long been two go-to guys when it comes to mocking manliness--David Hasselhoff, and Fabio.

The folks at Old Spice chose the latter in their latest campaign designed to spice-up <pun> the hugely sucessful campaign it began a couple of years ago.

Selecting Fabio to replace Isaiah Mustafa is a stroke of genius. The original Old Spice Man was a spoof on the "manly scent" of your father's Old Spice. And now, Fabio is a spoof of the new, manly man.

Consumers are let in on the joke in the theme of the new campaign--a "duel" between the old and the new.

New Old Spice Guy Fabio is challenging the (original) Old Spice Guy to a duel on Twitter, and on YouTube.

At last count, Fabio’s 4,000 followers is left unmatched by Isiaiah’s 129,000. 

In the world of manly caricatures, there seems to be no match.

Tune in to Old Spice's YouTube channel today at 9am to officially learn their fate.

Pivot Conference for Marketers: The rise of the Social Consumer

The Pivot Conference takes place October 17-28, 2011 in New York City.

Social Media guy Brian Solis is the conference's new editorial director, and he's focused this year's even on how social marketers and agencies can succeed by understanding, accessing and influencing the emerging Social Consumer.

The organizers say that opics will range from "the new digital Darwinism through the total transformation of audience dynamics and the growing universality of gamification, to the many emerging forms of monetization."

What's not to love about that!

See you in New York in October.

Vitaminwater pushes "Alternative Energy Source" message by embedding mobile device recharging stations in bus shelter ads

As someone who has spent the last 25 years marketing consumer products, I can tell you that it is disappointingly rare when a brand, a campaign, and a media match up in an innovative, and strategically relevant way.

That said, may I share with you the case that breaks the rule.

Vitaminwater's new campaign to promote the drink as a quick energy boost by embedding battery-powered public USB ports in bus shelters is truly genius. The headline "Alternative Energy Source" ties th whole campaign together. Bus shelters in New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles currently feature the innovative campaign.

Nice work Vitaminwater, and kudos to  agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Source: Business Insider

What will the fashion world do without Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony?

The announcement that Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were getting a divorce shook the world of fashion.

Fashion?

Yep, you see Anthony and Lopez have a line of clothes together that is about to launch at Kohl's.

Forget staying together for the children. Stay together for fashion!.

Lopez has long been in the fashion business, selling Jennifer Lopez branded items for over a decade. Her fragrance business alone has generated over $1billion.

Women's Wear Daily is reporting that the launch of two clothing and accessories lines by the couple will go on as planned.

Well, almost as planned.

The duo will no longer be promoted as "the first celebrity couple to simultaneously design collections for one retailer," and the lines are now being advertised as two separate collections.

Giving Oprah the benefit of the doubt

Rumor has it that Oprah Winfrey will soon take over the position of CEO of the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Of course, this wasn't the plan. Oprah and Discovery Communications--her partner in the network, have placed two other business executives at the helm of OWN, both with disappointing results.

But now, with her daytime talk show complete, and ratings sagging at OWN, the force-of-nature Ms. Winfrey is stepping in to make magic at the network.

OWN's promise of greatness has been talked-up from the start. But OWN has been doing poorly in prime time among key demographics, per Nielsen Media Research. And they've failed to have a real break-out hit in the line-up.

Advertising Age reports that the network's first-quarter performance ranked No. 45 among cable networks in prime time for total viewers and adults 18 to 49, with its second-quarter performance even worse, placing 63rd for total viewers and 73rd for adults 18 to 49.

Among women's cable networks, OWN comes in last, with Lifetime (No. 28 for total viewers), Oxygen (No. 35), We (No. 45) and even ABC's soon-to-be-canceled SoapNet (No. 58.)

But despite the poor ratings, the press, and advertising media buyers have given OWN, and Oprah, the benefit of the doubt.

Advertisers paid big bucks to be partners in the network's January launch. Kohl's, General Motors, Walmart and Kellogg paid $10 million to $20 million each to be a launch partner. Procter & Gamble committed $100 million across its brand portfolio to secure premium ad time on the network.

But even with lackluster ratings, advertisers are signing up, and renewing deals during this year's upfront negotiations for the fall.

The poor showing has miffed and disappointed many media buyers, particularly those such as

Ah, the power of the O.

Powerful leaders can be godsends to organizations. Steve Jobs' return to Apple after decades of bureaucratic rule by Mike Scott, John Sculley and Gil Amelio helped seal Apple's legend as a great company. And how could Starbucks have weathered the recession and plummeting sales and profits without the return of its founder--Howard Schultz?

With Oprah heading up OWN's future, only the best is yet to come.

Source: Advertising Age

Bath Salts: A new class of consumer stimulant products with a dangerous kick.

Remember Four Loko? It was an alcoholic beverage popular amoung teens and young adults with a caffeine kick that was all the rage, until the crackdown. It is now sold without the kick, and with diminished appeal and sales.

Now, a new sustance is making the rounds of convenience stores, online and at head shops that most likely will have a similar fate.

Bath salts.

But these are not your mother's bath salts.

While similar in that they come in power and crystal form; today's bath salts do little to calm you, or sooth your troubles away as they melt in your bath tub. In fact, the newest version of bath salts can apparently leave you so agitated, violent and psychotic that even large doses of sedatives and an army of medical workers can't calm you down.

And, the product is legal in at least 1/2 of the country.

Twenty eight states--mostly in the south and midwest, have banned bath salts from sale. These are the states most familiar with the affects of the salts that appear to be similar to PCP. The New York Times reports that some of the recent incidents include a man in Indiana who climbed a roadside flagpole and jumped into traffic, a man in Pennsylvania who broke into a monastery and stabbed a priest, and a woman in West Virginia who scratched herself “to pieces” over several days because she thought there was something under her skin.

And, if you want to follow Lindsay Lohan's all-kinds-of-crazy, there's a bath salt product called "Lindsay" who's makers claim it is legal in 50 states. "Everyone remember Lindsay's outlandish behavior and disregard for peace?   Well just when we thought she was gone, LINDSAY bath salts is now available." 

People typically snort, inject or smoke bath salts which are sold for $25 to $50 per 50-milligram packet, and without a warning label that informs people of their dangerous and long-lasting effects. Or mentions the need for a trip to your nearest emergency room, or that trip to the psych ward.

A contrite Murdoch takes out "We are sorry" newspaper ads

The News of the World hacking scandal continues to rock the News Corp empire of Rupert Murdoch.

He's had to close the newspaper, fire executives (with others resigning) and watch the future of his empire (the BSkyB satellite deal) go down in flames. The heir to the business, his son james may be tried in criminal court, and his company's stock has taken a beating in the stock market.

And now, Murdoch has had to publically apologize in full-page newspaper advertisements for what he calls "serious wrongdoing" by News Corporation and News of the World.

The ads appear in London's Daily Mail, Financial Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Sun and Times. It must be a bitter pill that the newspaper mogul is apologizing within the pages of competitive newspapers.

 "We are sorry. The News of the World was in the business of holding others to account. It failed when it came to itself." says Murdoch in the ad.

There is a follow-on ad scheduled this weekend which will reportedly outline the steps that News International will take to try and win back the public's trust.

Source: HuffPo

Jet Blue is offering $4 tickets from LGB and BUR during Los Angeles' "Carmageddon"

In a fun publicity stunt,  JetBlue Airways has offered $4 flights between Los Angeles' Burbank and Long Beach airports for this weekend.

Why?

Didn't you hear? Carmageddon is coming.

The city of automobiles is bracing for the construction closing of one of their busiest freeways. The 405 is a major artery for the L.A. Basin, and will be closed for 53 hours this weekend. The smogbelt has been planning for this closing for weeks, with many people leaving town and others stocking up on supplies to stay at home while the 405 Freeway which connects the San Fernando Valley to the Westside of Los Angeles is closed through the Sepulveda pass.

Or, in Jet Blue language, the space between Burbank and Long Beach.

JetBlue offered the 20-minute flights, two each way during Carmageddon, for $4. Seats sold out in less than four hours.

"We thought this would be a fun and unique idea," Spokeswoman Sharon Jones told The Los Angeles Times. "We looked at it as a way to introduce our product to customers who have never joined JetBlue."

And, while Jet Blue used Carmageddon to remind Angelenos of their service out of Burbank and Long Beach, Hitler finds out that the 405 freeway in Los Angeles will be closed for 2 days in July, and he is not happy about it:

Beauty emergency? 1-877-Sephora to the rescue

Everyone knows what to do in a medical emergency: dial 911.

Now, Sephora wants you to dial 1-877-Sephora for a beauty emergency.

Yes, the beauty retailer is launching a Same Day Beauty Delivery Service when you're fresh out of Clinique, Fresh, Make Up For Ever, or Bumble and Bumble.

The service is available in New York City and accepts orders during the hours of 8am and 11am for delivery between noon and 9pm that same day. There's a $15 delivery charge (less than the price of a taxi to the shop), and a $50 minimum order.

Deliveries are made in a black-and-white Sephora branded Mini Cooper.

Source: Stylist

The IPO market may be running on Dunkin's

Most of the IPO news has been arond technology businesses--Groupon, LinkedIn, Pandora, Zynga, etc.

But what might catch America's appetite might be all-American blue-collar brand Dunkin' Donuts heading to the public markets.

The owner of Dunkin’ Donuts--who also owns the 31 flavors of Baskin Robbins, is looking to raise as much as $460.6 million in a stock offering, by selling 22.25 million shares (that's about 1.8 million dozen in donut-speak).

The company is currently owned by investment groups Bain Capital Partners, the Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners who acquired the company from Pernod Ricard.

I'll take a dozen shares to go, please.

Source: NYT DealBook

At the Twitter Town Hall: Possibilities for expansion

Political seasons are always a big opportunity for media outlets to make big money from advertisers through high ratings and placed ads.

For this 2012 election cycle, it looks like Twitter may be the darling of the media circus as they look to expanding their political "Town Hall" environments after a successful Q-and-A session with President Barack Obama.

"We believe Twitter can be a valuable platform for anyone running for office, and look forward to seeing the creative ways campaigns will use the service over the next year," Twitter's Matt Graves said.

Last week’s first-of-its-kind Twitter Town Hall saw President Obama answering 140-character questions submitted by inquisitive souls. it was the first major event that Twitter created for people to tweet about. But probably not its last.

“How can we make Twitter @TownHall better in the future?” co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted after the event, suggesting more to come. “And not just for the U.S. government, but any government.”

Or any organization in need of connecting with the tweeple of the world.

Source: Adweek

Nike is giving Michael Vick a second chance

In the country of second chances, Michael Vick is today's superstar.

The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback fell from grace in 2007 and served jail time for his role in a dogfighting ring, but returned to the NFL in 2009. Now he is back on top with a new endorsement deal with Nike.

Apparently, Nike feels comfortable swooshing (pun intended) Vick's history under the rug.

"We have re-signed Michael Vick as a Nike athlete," Nike said Friday. "Michael acknowledges his past mistakes. We do not condone those actions, but we support the positive changes he has made to better himself off the field."

NFL contracts, and marketing endorsement deals are all about money, of course. And when Vick makes corporations money, Vick is forgiven. Similarly, Nike stuck by Tiger Woods during his infidelity scandal.

Organizations look to fans as a gauge of forgiveness (and money-making potential).Vick's jersey sales are at the top of the heap. He's ranked sixth in NFL jersey sales, behind squeaky-clean New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

This Week in Social Networking Transitions: MySpace and Friendster

Two major transitions happened in social networking this week.

You may have caught the first--MySpace being sold to an ad-targeting company with an investment from Justin Timberlake (insert "I'm bringing Sexy Back" joke). The new owners have a goal to use the site as an ad-serving platform fueled by a music community driven by its new Creative Director--Mr. Timberlake.

A second major transition happened when Friendster shifted its social networking/dating site (which was long-eclipsed by everyone from Match.com, to Facebook, to yes, even MySpace) into a social gaming portal.

Say What?

Yes, Friendster, who was one of the pioneers of social networking but was sold to a social gaming company last year who knew they needed to make drastic changes to the site in order to allow it to survive. They're now trying to convert their customers from dating to social gaming.

From their new CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah: "Friendster reinvents itself as a social gaming destination that enables its users to create multiple avatars, play games and enjoy rewards; I hope that all of you will wish us luck and continue to support us in our new reincarnation. The new Friendster is not perfect and we will continue to add new games and features such as localization and rewards over the next few months"

If you have any questions as to how they plan to transistion this target audience, or why they're still calling themselves "Friendster," please contact Genesh at ceo@friendster.com

 

Generation Y: A crowdsourcing generation obsessed with Gathering Opinions, Curated Choice, and Flexible Loyalties

There is something disingenuous about the Baby Boomer generation calling the folks in Gen Y the "Me" generation.

For the Boomers, which gave us "conspicuous consumption," and who spent their parent's inheritance without thinking of saving for their own retirement, the idea that Generation Y is narcissistic is a little bit like the pot calling the kettle black.

I call Generation Y the "Crowdsourced Generation."

While the term "crowdsourcing" has gone the way of MySpace in the popularity scale, the behavior is embedded in our society.

Generation Y crowdsources (or "gathers") opinions from their social network, and curates choices presented to them, based on their own evaluation process.

While they are independent in their final decisions about what they do with their lives (thus the "Me" moniker), they're a generation most interested in what others have to say. They don't follow orders, but they do listen to other's advice.

Generation Y, the 80+ million people now aged 16 to 34, are the largest (and fastest growing) of the Generations as defined by marketers. They have buying and brand preferences that in many cases diverge sharply from their parents. As there parents aspired to be like brands (and were defined by them), Generation Y looks for brands that are like them.

Now, back to that crowdsourcing comment...

Gen Y'ers turn to friends and family to make virtually every decision. They look to trusted resources for advice and counsel on just about any decision, including which restaurant to eat at, and even what to eat there.

A recent study (by Barkley in partnership with Boston Consulting Group and Service Management Group) suggests that sixty-eight percent won't make a major decision without running it by their network first.

In fact, Gen Y'ers would rather go shopping with others, rather than by themselves. So, while the Baby Boomer pundits poo-pooed the concept of social shopping/social commerce and Facebook's "Like" button on retail sites, Gen Y went shopping with their social network, and is spending with those who hopped on the bandwagon. 

They're also, interested in another uniquely Generation Y behavior--experimental shopping.

Experimental shopping is something loyalty-based brands hate, and brands looking to acquire new customers love. It is the concept of trying new products and services (and potentially) replacing brands they're been previously loyal to.

This behavior has led Boomers to label Y'ers as having "flexible loyalties." Gone are the days of "locking-in" consumers into loyalty programs and long-term contracts. Gen Y wants choice--and flexibility.

And those of Generation Y don't just like to gather opinions, they love to give them--spreading their social graph far and wide. This is a generation far more likely to give (what Boomers would call) private information into public forums, in exchange for clout, and other incentives.

Some argue that these behaviors are life-stage based and that once the 16-34 year old crowd ages they'll adjust to more brand-based loyalty and will realize the privacy issues around being open on the web, I say we all need to watch, learn and adjust to the behaviors of this "Not-so-just-all-about-Me" generation.

Image source: @RockyMcG

San Francisco is converting Pavement to Parks

One of the thrills of living in an urban center is watching innovative trends emerge. And San Francisco is a hot bed of funky change.

Over the last couple of years we've begun seeing Parklets pop-up around the City.

What's a Parklet?

Imagine eminant domain over a portion of a street (often parallel street parking spots in front of a restaurant or cafe), converting asphalt into a public place for citizens to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the city around them. Obviously the parklets are also a boon for the restaurants and cafes immediately adjacent.

San Francisco's "Pavement to Parks" program is facilitating their installation. Viva la parklet.

 

KFC hires a Chief Chicken Officer

The often ceremonial titles of Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Creative Officer, and Chief Customer Officer have been handed out in corporate board rooms looking to shine a light on strategic company goals.

So, for the company which used to claim "We do Chicken Right," the title of "Chief Chicken Officer" seems like a no-brainer.

KFC says the CCO will act as a spokesman for the roll out of the chain's new Cook Certification Program, a quality-control program positioned as a way to maintain Colonel Sanders' high standards.

Aaron Person is the man assigned to be the Chief. He'll star in the company's advertising, and in videos designed to reiterate how to best prepare the chain's original fried-chicken recipe.

KFC may need a Chief Chicken Officer, especially if the CCO can sort through their dual-headed and rather confusing strategy of grilled vs fried. There's no doubt that KFC has confused consumers over the years with their attempts to broaden their appeal and cater to more consumers. In their attempts to stay competitive with more health-conscious alternatives, they've lost their focused brand image.

BP tries (once again) to resuscitate its positive brand image

During the Gulf oil disaster in 2010, BP used media (advertising and PR) disastrously--only hurting their reputation by overtly trying to sway public opinion of their role in the disaster, spinning yarns that few found believable.

They eventually slipped away from public view--proving that going quiet can prove more effective than going on defense.

Now, BP is launching a new television campaign in the UK--a country more tolerant of BP's role in the Gulf disaster than Americans. The campaign is in support of their sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics and is a typical feel-good piece designed to make consumers warm to the company's positive values.

Under a tagline of "London 2012 fueling the future" BP highlights its efforts around carbon footprint offsets, and bio-fuels, while showing Chariots of Fire-like imagery of British Olympians and Paraolympians.

Granted, Ogilvy & Mather London had an Olympic-sized task to try to improve BP's image in 30-seconds, did they succeed by tugging at consumers emotions with disabled athletes, inspirational music and imagery and an environmentally friendly message? I might still be too jaded to believe their message is still anything but spin.

BP may think otherwise: "We thought now people were in the mood to listen to message about the Olympics. We had to be thoughtful about the project and the brand, and to get the voice right. I’m confident people will see BP in a positive way," according to Duncan Blake, director of brand at BP.

Image source

Martha Stewart channels her inner 10-year old in "Martha & Friends"

Martha Stewart, who describes herself as "a teacher" is launching a new online animated series for kids called “Martha & Friends.”

The twenty six webisodes will feature an animated verision of Martha as a 10-year old (paging Dorian Gray). She'll be her crafty self, and has even found room for her two dogs in the series. And, apparently her personality translates directly to animation--with what Vator.tv calls an amazing feat..."the animation team managed to make even a ten-year-old Martha Stewart appear frigid and domineering."

The episodes will air bi-weekly starting today on Marthaandfriends.com via AOL Kids. The website also includes games, project ideas, and a meet-the-characters section.